Flowcharts: A guide from start to finish

In this article

Every flowchart is unique. That’s why we’ve created this guide to walk you through how to utilize the variety of options and features available to you during the process of building a flowchart. We discuss:

• What method to use for building your flowchart
• What features to leverage to customize your flowchart for optimal efficiency
• How to best share your flowchart depending on your audience

To follow step-by-step instructions on building a flowchart, check out our Create a flowchart in Lucidchart article.

Methods for creating a flowchart

Depending on your preferred method to build a flowchart, we have a variety of methods available. You can start with a blank diagram and the flowchart shape library, create a diagram from a template, or access the diagram as code menu to automatically build your flowchart using Mermaid.

Here’s our advice on when to use each of these options to build your flowchart:

• Create a blank diagram and build from the flowchart shape library when: You want to have manual control over each step of building the flowchart.
• Start with a template when: You have a standard workflow you want to document and want to start with a professionally polished layout. We have a wide variety of templates to help jumpstart your flowchart creation.
• Automatically build using Mermaid code when: You want to streamline the diagramming process by making it faster and easier to get your flowchart built with Mermaid code.
• Generate a flowchart using AI when: You are starting with a blank canvas and don’t have a clear direction of where to go with your flowchart—an AI generated one may be what you need to kickstart your diagramming and generate some ideas.

Use the flowchart shape library

To manually create a flowchart diagram and have control over the entire build process, create a blank Lucidchart diagram and access the flowchart shape library. To add the flowchart shape library to the shape library of your new document: 

1. Click + More shapes at the bottom of the Shape library.
2. In the search bar, type “Flowchart”.
3. Check the box for the “Flowchart” shape library.
4. Click Use selected shapes.

Once the shape library has been added to your shape menu to the left, drag and drop shapes from the library onto the canvas to begin building your diagram. Skip ahead to the Add and edit objects in your flowchart section for more guidance.

Start with flowchart templates

To create a flowchart diagram using a template and get a jumpstart on an organized and professional-looking diagram, follow these steps starting from the Lucid Documents page:

1. Click + New and hover your cursor over "Lucidchart".
2. Select Create from Template.
3. Click Flowcharts to browse and find a template.
   • To view more options of a given variety, select View all to the right of a topic title.
4. Select the thumbnail of the template you want and click Use template.
   • From the pop up, you can preview the template and read a brief description.

A new Lucidchart document is created, the chosen template appears on the canvas, and you can begin work customizing it to the needs of your process. If this is the option you choose, you can skip to our sections with guidance around editing the flowchart to fit your needs and leveraging any advanced features to help uplevel your diagram.

Diagram as code with Mermaid

Rather than manually building a diagram or customizing a template with your details, you can leverage diagram as code functionality to automatically build a diagram.
Select the Diagram as code icon from the Primary Toolbar on the far left-hand side of the workspace.

From this menu, you can write your code to your preference and have a flowchart automatically generated. For more details on how to use this functionality, refer to our Diagram as code with Mermaid in Lucidchart article.

Generate a diagram from AI

If you’re in the beginning stages of diagramming and looking to generate some ideas, leverage AI to kickstart the process.
Select the Lucid AI icon from the Primary Toolbar on the far left-hand side of the workspace.

Then add a detailed description for the diagram you want generated, which should consist of focused keywords and as much context as possible. To learn more, check out the Boost productivity with Lucid AI in Lucidchart article.

Add and edit objects in your flowchart

In its most basic form, a flowchart is a diagram made with shapes and lines to represent a process or workflow. Whether you decide to create a flowchart manually or generate one from code or AI, there are a number of tips to customize your flowchart at any stage in the creation or maintenance process. Read the following articles to learn how to:

• Create a flowchart in Lucidchart. Get details on features such as changing a shape, grouping objects, and more.
• Add and style lines in Lucidchart. Learn about adding and formatting lines between shapes, including adding text on lines.
• Add and format swim lanes in Lucidchart. See steps to improve organization of your flowchart by leveraging swim lanes and pools to structure and label your diagram effectively.

Leverage advanced features to uplevel your flowchart

Now let’s talk about how you can elevate the professionalism and usefulness of your diagram. We recommend gaining familiarity with each offering and using any that are relevant to your use case.

Improve clarity with a diagram key

Adding a diagram key is a great way to define the visual meaning behind various elements of a flowchart. The example below shows a diagram key titled “Process flow shapes” which represents the four swimlane colors and the associated shapes in each pool. Using this feature breaks out the role of customer, sales, management, and the credit department and makes it easier and clearer to process the information represented in the diagram.

Add layers to show and hide paths of the flowchart

Layers streamline the ability to toggle different versions of a flowchart. For step-by-step instructions on adding layers to a Lucidchart document, check out our article. Common use cases include:

• Represent current and future states of a diagram. Learn more.
• Expand or collapse a complex flowchart into bite size pieces. Learn more.

To further improve the toggling experience, consider adding an action to a shape to switch between the two diagram states.

Let's get into an example. Say you're documenting the process for when hiring managers onboard a new member onto their team. At the static level of the flowchart, we can see the outline of the order of operations to train the new employee.

In our example, a new requirement is being added to the onboarding process—the new employee must score at least 80 percent on their online training modules. With a quick action, we can add that flow of the process to clearly demonstrate the employee needs to retake the training if they score less than 80 percent.

Improve comprehension with conditional formatting or icon sets

Transform data by visually highlighting patterns and insights for quick comprehension at a glance. Conditional formatting and icon sets can be very valuable depending on the purpose for use. We recommend using:

• Conditional formatting to create a rule that can be used to automatically evaluate all current and future objects on your flowchart and add desired formatting in the form of shape style, icons, or dynamic shapes. This is a more advanced option which means set up is more involved, but the functionality is also more robust.
• Icon sets to leverage static icons to select objects in your diagram and visually alert users when something needs attention. These are easy to add and remove for even temporary call outs that are needed.

By way of an example, in the screenshot below the following icons and conditional formatting rule have been applied:

• Green checkmark icon has been added to the top-right corner of the “Approval” shape to quickly call out the flow to gain approval. 
• Red X icon has been added to the top-right corner of the “Sale not approved” shape to indicate that the consumer has failed a credit check and the sale will not move forward.
• A conditional formatting rule has been set up for any objects in the flowchart with the “decision” shape type, so that the text and dotted outline are both red to call attention to these shapes as the action items for approval of credit check and checking accounts receivable balance.

Add data or resources to objects

There are a number of link or attachment features that can be valuable for specific uses. For example, you can provide easy access to further documentation or resources that are hosted elsewhere or graphics for a specific step in a process.
Whether you are looking to link specific data from an imported file to a shape, link out to another Lucid document or outside URL, or attach documentation as an image to an object, we have the functionality to improve the reach of your diagram. Options include:

• Link data to a Lucidchart document article provides step-by-step instructions on how to attach a CSV, Google, or Excel spreadsheet or create a custom data set in Lucid. The dataset can then be used to assign data to objects or a page in a Lucid document. This is helpful if there is specific data that you need attached to shapes on your diagram.
• Add a link to a shape to direct users to another page in your Lucidchart document, a separate Lucidchart document, or a specific URL. This can be helpful to send users out to more detailed and robust documentation or to move a process forward outside of Lucid.
• Attach images to objects to directly pull in a file to attach to a shape. This can provide documentation and direction to users without them ever needing to leave the page in your Lucidchart document.

Quickly see diagram metadata with Page Insight formulas

Lucidchart provides a variety of premade Page Insights formulas on your Lucidchart documents from the footer, including:

• Number of selected objects on your page
• Total amount of shapes, lines, or objects on your page

Use these to get a quick understanding of the overall metadata for a diagram. This can give a look into the complexity of a diagram that can be used to compare the quantity of shapes, lines, and objects needed to represent different processes.

The power and versatility of formulas in Lucidchart goes far beyond the premade Page Insight options mentioned above. Check out the Use formulas in Lucidchart for general information on formulas, a shape reference quick view, and a glossary.

Share your flowchart

After you have perfected your flowchart, it’s time to share it with the people you made it for.  Lucid provides a few different options you can choose based on the needs of your organization including sharing a static or a live version, exporting or printing, or publishing a version people can access with a link. 

First, decide whether you want to share a static version or a live version.

You may choose to share a static version of your flowchart if:

• You want the chart to reflect the process at a specific period of time.
• You need a printed version of your flowchart.
• You want to control who is given access to the information.
• Your flowchart doesn’t need to be updated often.

You may choose to share a dynamic or live version of your flowchart if:

• You want your audience to see updates to the flowchart in real time.
• You want your audience to have access to linked data fields.
• Your chart is too large to export or print.
• Your flowchart needs to be updated frequently.

Export or print a static version

To share a static version of your flowchart, you can either export it as an image or PDF file to your device or you can print a physical copy.

Publish or embed a live version

When sharing a dynamic version of your flowchart, you can either publish it or embed a live version into your own web page.

Publish your flowchart

Publishing generates a link you can send to anyone (including non-Lucid users), which grants them access to view your flowchart. You can choose to publish your flowchart as a:

• URL: Click the link to navigate to a live webpage version of the flowchart.
• PDF: Click the link to download a PDF snapshot of the flowchart as it appears in Lucidchart at that moment. 
• Image: Click the link to download an image snapshot of the flowchart as it appears in Lucidchart at that moment. 

If you publish your flowchart as a PDF or image, the downloaded file is static and won’t update with future changes. However, if you make updates, users can re-click the original link to download the latest version.

Embed your flowchart
Embedding allows you to add an interactive version of your flowchart to your own web page. You can either generate an embed code directly in Lucidchart, or you can use one of Lucid’s external embed integrations such as:

• Confluence Cloud
• Confluence Server or Data Center
• Jira
• Asana
• Notion

Resources

To learn more about leveraging the full potential of flowcharts, explore the additional resources below. These resources are available in English only.
Blog
Three tips for visualizing complex diagrams

Community posts
Build a business process flowchart
Create a current and future state diagram
Use layers to expand or collapse a flowchart

Quick guide
Three tips for creating wow-worthy diagrams

Templates
Business process flow example
Flowchart showing task dependencies
Algorithm flowchart example

Video
Flowcharts in Lucid

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